Oct. 24: Nobel lectures

Faculty experts to explain this year's prize-winning research

1:43 p.m., Oct. 17, 2012--University of Delaware faculty members with expertise in each of the six areas of study that won this year's Nobel Prizes will discuss the significance of the research at a public lecture at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 24, 2012, in Mitchell Hall.

The event, which is free and open to the public, will consist of six short talks and an opportunity for the audience to ask questions. This annual Nobel lecture is sponsored by the College of Arts and Sciences.

Salil Lachke, assistant professor of biological sciences, will discuss the work done by John B. Gurdon and Shinya Yamanaka, who were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their discovery that mature, specialized cells can be reprogrammed to become immature cells capable of developing into all tissues of the body.

John Koh, professor of chemistry and biochemistry, will speak about the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, awarded to Robert J. Lefkowitz and Brian K. Kobilka for their research on the tiny receptors that allow cells to sense their environment and adapt to new situations.

Virginia Lorenz, assistant professor of physics and astronomy, will discuss the research conducted by Serge Haroche and David J. Wineland, who won the physics prize "for groundbreaking experimental methods" of measuring and manipulating individual quantum particles without destroying them.

Jianguo Chen, associate professor of foreign languages and literatures, will speak about writer Mo Yan, winner of the literature prize, "who with hallucinatory realism merges folk tales, history and the contemporary," according to the Nobel committee.

Daniel Kinderman, assistant professor of political science and international relations, will discuss the Nobel Peace Prize, awarded this year to the European Union for its six decades of contributions to peace, democracy and human rights in Europe.

Sebastian Cioaba, assistant professor of mathematical sciences, and Michael Arnold, associate professor of economics and director of UD's Honors Program, will speak about the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel, awarded to Alvin E. Roth and Lloyd S. Shapley, for their research on matching different agents  such as students with schools and organ donors with transplant patients  efficiently.

Article by Ann Manser, with information from the Nobel Prize organization